Charles Mabbett writes:
What happens to personal information when an organisation closes down? One thing is certain. Don’t follow the example of a West Coast doctor who, when closing his surgery to retire, attempted to bury his patient notes on a beach. The tides and the wind had other plans and scattered the files along the beach for all to see.
This week, Relationships Aotearoa quite suddenly had to confront this question after it became impossible to continue to deliver services to its clients. Most of the client files – if not all – of them would be extremely personal and sensitive in nature.
We were able to provide some high level advice on obligations, the need to keep the information secure, the need to ensure clients were able to access the information and the need to get those files to other providers the clients might move to.
Read more on the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of New Zealand.